... In this study, real petrochemical wastewater treatment was investigated at four hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 30, 18, 12 and 6 h, using membrane bioreactor. Initial evaluation confirmed the presence of styrene and more than 30 different types of compounds in petrochemical wastewater. Laboratory tests and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) studies indicated that at all HRTs, styrene ...

... Lab-scale membrane bioreactors (MBRs), with aerated activated sludge and internal microfiltration module, were used for the treatment of municipal wastewater containing high, yet environmentally relevant, concentrations of benzothiazole (BT) and benzotriazole (BTA). These high production volume compounds are commonly used in the industry and households, and therefore occur ubiquitously in municipa ...

... This study investigated the production of major volatile fatty acid (VFA) components in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) to treat low-strength synthetic wastewater. No selective inhibition was applied for methane production and solvent-extraction method was used for VFA extraction. The results showed acetic and propionic acid were the predominant VFA components at pH 7.0 and 6.0 with conce ...

... Aerobic granular sludge membrane bioreactor (AGMBR) has emerged with strong potential to overcome membrane fouling. There have been no extensive studies on extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in AGMBR. The present work aimed at conducting an in-depth study of EPS and monitoring fouling development in AGMBR using a 22 factorial design having hydraulic retention time (HRT) and total organic car ...

... Membrane fouling is one of the biggest challenges in the widespread application of membrane bioreactors. In this study, a combined system of anaerobic-anoxic-oxic membrane bioreactor (A2O-MBR) and worm reactor (WR) was established for fouling control. In A2O-MBR-WR, the membrane filtration cycle was prolonged by 66.7% due to the confluence of microaerobic treatment and worm predation in WR with th ...

... Activated Sludge Membrane Bioreactors (AS-MBR) are recognized as a commercially competitive alternative to conventional wastewater treatments. However, membrane fouling remains one of the main challenges and disadvantages of the process. This study evaluates the suitability of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) in monitoring the cake layer development in-situ in AS-MBR under continuous operation. ...

... An improved insight into the effect of powdered activated carbon (PAC) on membrane fouling is crucial to the MBR performance. Sludge key property, soluble microbial products (SMP) and transmembrane pressure (TMP) were monitored. The membrane fouling rate in the MBRs was also analyzed based on TMP profile and resistance-in-series model. PAC reduced the membrane filtration resistance and significant ...

... This study aims to investigate the performance of a low-strength magnetic field in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for membrane fouling mitigation and its effects on sludge characteristics and microbial community. The continuous operation of MBR with magnetic powder (MP-MBR) is denoted as the control-MBR, and a magnetic field is added to the MP-MBR to form the magnetic-MBR (M-MBR). The comparison betw ...

... Fouling in membrane contactors for recovery of dissolved methane (CH4) was investigated in this work. Two types of effluents from anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) and upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) were tested under a continuous operational mode. Due to the higher fouling propensity of the UASB effluent, membrane fouling was more drastic, leading to a greater decline in the CH4 desorp ...

... To enhance phosphorus removal and make the effluent meet the strict discharge level of total phosphorus (TP, 0.5 mg/L), flocculant dosing is frequently applied. In this study, the performance of aluminum sulfate dosing in a University of Cape Town Membrane Bioreactor (UCT-MBR) was investigated, in terms of the nutrients removal performance, sludge characteristics and membrane fouling. The results ...

... The distribution of metallic elements in a submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) was revealed at different temperatures using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), and the role of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) was probed by integrating scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) over long-term operation. More metallic ele ...

... The efficiency of slug flow for fouling control of flat sheet (FS) membrane bioreactors (MBRs) is hindered by uneven bubble distribution leading to inhomogeneous shear stress profile on the membrane. In this work, a 3D CFD model was developed enabling prediction of the hydraulic performance of a novel aeration system designed to reduce the uneven bubble distribution in a full-scale FS MBR. Bubbles ...

... Biomass characteristics may change subject to a salinity increase when treating high strength wastewater. In this study, the impact of salinity in a membrane bioreactor (MBR) was investigated for the treatment of produced water (PW). MBR was operated as a pre-treatment prior to nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO). Mixed PW, that was originated from different oil, gas, and oil-gas wells, w ...

... This study investigates the removal of selected pharmaceuticals, as recalcitrant organic compounds, from synthetic wastewater using an electro-membrane bioreactor (eMBR). Diclofenac (DCF), carbamazepine (CBZ), and amoxicillin (AMX) were selected as representative drugs from three different therapeutic groups such as anti-inflammatory, anti-epileptic, and antibiotic, respectively. An environmentall ...

... Whey, produced in large quantities during cheese production, is a rapidly fermentable high strength wastewater characterized by a high biodegradability and low alkalinity. In this study, a lab-scale cross-flow anaerobic membrane bioreactor was used to address the commonly experienced difficulties such as unstable reactor performance and unexpected biomass losses when treating whey wastewater with ...

... Fractal roughness is one of the most important properties of a fractal surface. In this study, it was found that, randomly rough membrane surface was a fractal surface, which could be digitally modeled by a modified two-variable Weierstrass-Mandelbrot (WM) function. Fractal roughness of membrane surfaces has a typical power function relation with the statistical roughness of the modeled surface. A ...

... Quantification of interfacial interactions between two rough surfaces represents one of the most pressing requirements for membrane fouling prediction and control in membrane bioreactors (MBRs). This study firstly constructed regularly rough membrane and particle surfaces by using rigorous mathematical equations. Thereafter, a new method involving surface element integration (SEI) method, differen ...

... This study aimed to develop a practical semi-empirical mathematical model of membrane fouling that accounts for cake formation on the membrane and its pore blocking as the major processes of membrane fouling. In the developed model, the concentration of mixed liquor suspended solid is used as a lumped parameter to describe the formation of cake layer including the biofilm. The new model considers ...

... Interfacial interactions between foulants and membrane directly determine foulant adhesion and membrane fouling. In this study, surface of sludge foulant particles (flocs) was found to be rough, and could be modeled by a sinusoidal sphere function. A novel method, which combined surface element integration (SEI) method, differential geometry and composite Simpson’s rule, was developed to quantify ...

... Reverse osmosis concentrates (ROC) produced from water reclamation plants can threaten the environment if it is not appropriately treated before discharge. A membrane bioreactor (MBR) process to treat ROC was used in this project. In an MBR, fouling is an essential and inevitable phenomenon which leads to higher operational and capital costs. A comparative study on chemical cleaning, such as sodiu ...

... Polyamide thin-film composite (PA TFC) membranes have attained much attention for forward osmosis (FO) applications in separation processes, water and wastewater treatment due to their superior intrinsic properties, such as high salt rejection and water permeability compared to the first-generation cellulose-based FO membranes. Nonetheless, several problems like fouling and trade-off between membr ...

... BACKGROUND: A laboratory‐scale anaerobic‐anoxic‐oxic membrane bioreactor (AAO‐MBR) system was used to remove organic compounds and nitrogen in the composite industrial wastewater collected from an industrial park. RESULTS: The recommended conditions for both chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nitrogen removal were as follows: hydraulic retention time of 73.6 h, sludge retention time of 35 days and m ...

... The increasingly stringent requirements for wastewater treatment enforce the adoption of technologies that reduce pollution and minimize waste production. By combining the typical activated sludge process with membrane filtration, biological membrane reactors (MBR) offer great technological potential in this respect. The paper presents the principles and effectiveness of using an MBR at the Głogów ...

... Recently, new technologies regarding water and wastewater treatment have been developed and among these processes, the fixed bed biofilm reactor combined with membrane bioreactor is the recent alternative solution to conventional technologies. In this research, an integrated fixed bed membrane bioreactor (FBMBR) with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 36 h was developed to remove pollutants from ...

... Research and development activities on standalone systems of membrane bioreactors and electrochemical reactors for wastewater treatment have been intensified recently. However, several challenges are still being faced during the operation of these reactors. The current challenges associated with the operation of standalone MBR and electrochemical reactors include: membrane fouling in MBR, set-back ...

... Ferrous dosing is used to reduce phosphorus concentration and alleviate polymeric membrane fouling in membrane bioreactor (MBR). However, limited studies have been conducted to investigate the impacts of ferrous dosing on ceramic membrane fouling, nutrient removal efficiency and microbial community. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of intermittent ferrous dosing wit ...

... The anaerobic treatment of wastewater containing approximately 2000 mg L−1N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) was conducted by a lab-scale submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactor (SAnMBR). The inoculum consisted of aerobic DMF-hydrolyzing activated sludge (DAS) and anaerobic digested sludge (ADS). A rapid start-up was achieved with thorough DMF methanogenic degradation on the first day. The results of a 2 ...

... A novel acidogenic phosphorus recovery (APR) process was developed in combination with Fe(III)-based chemical phosphorus removal and a membrane bioreactor (MBR) for enhanced wastewater treatment and effective P recovery. Two different system configurations were evaluated: Fe-dosing MBR (Fe-MBR), with the Fe-dosing into the MBR, and Fe-enhanced primary sedimentation followed by the MBR (FeP-MBR). T ...

... This work has reviewed from a microbial perspective and listed the typical studies on MBR techniques for saline wastewater treatments. When the salinity of influent is lower than 10 g/L NaCl, conventional MBR can be easily applied with adjusted operating conditions. For better biodegradation and anti-fouling ability at higher salinities (10–100 g/L), modified and hybrid MBR systems may need to be ...

... Start-up of membrane bioreactor under different NaCl stress was investigated in this study. Results showed that nearly 90% chemical oxygen demands and ammonia nitrogen ([Formula: see text]–N) was oxidized in none and 0.5% NaCl condition during the start-up stage. While 1% NaCl dramatically depressed the utilization of [Formula: see text]–N and about 4 weeks were required for adaption of sludge bio ...

... A combined system composed of coagulation, hydrolysis acidification and dynamic membrane bioreactor (DMBR) was developed for treating the wastewater produced from polymer flooding. Performance and mechanism of the combined system as well as its respective units were also evaluated. The combined system has shown high-capacity to remove all contaminants in the influent. In this work, the coagulant, ...

... Membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology for wastewater treatment has been developed for over three decades. Our latest survey shows that MBR applications for wastewater treatment are still in rapid growth today. This review summarizes the pros, cons and progress in full-scale MBR applications. Critical statistics on the capital cost, operating cost, footprint, energy consumption and chemical consumpt ...

... The limitation of the membrane bioreactors treating municipal wastewater to manage peak flux conditions have often led to conservative design, which negatively impacts on capital and operating costs. This paper discusses the effectiveness of an alternative operation mode, tested under various peaking conditions and different experimental unit sizes. In this mode, the initiation of the backwashing ...

... Fouling is one of the most pressing limitations during operation of membrane bioreactors, as it increases operating costs and is the cause of short membrane lifespans. Conducting effective physical cleanings is thus essential for keeping membrane operation above viable performance limits. The nature of organic foulants present in the sludge and the membrane properties are among the most influentia ...

... Ceramic membrane bioreactor (MBR) has attracted increasing interest due to its high flux, long membrane life-span and excellent resistance to hash operation conditions. Although ozone has been used for chemical cleaning of ceramic membranes, it is still unclear about the role of dissolved organic matter (DOM) generated during on-line chemical cleaning with ozone in the development of membrane foul ...

... The present study examined fouling in a microalgal membrane bioreactor under mixotrophic, heterotrophic and photoautotrophic conditions. N-enriched wastewater, containing nitrate source, was used as a nutrient source for cultivation of microalgae. The results confirmed that the membrane fouling rates increased under mixotrophic cultivation through enhanced production of carbohydrates in soluble mi ...

... In this study the effect of different fouling stages of hollow fiber membranes on effective backwashing length in MBR has been investigated. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is imported to simulate backwashing process. A multi-physics coupling model for free porous media flow, convective mass transfer and diluted species transport was established. The laser bijection sensors (LBS) were imported ...

... This review examines the potential of anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) to serve as the core technology for simultaneous recovery of clean water, energy, and nutrient from wastewater. The potential is significant as AnMBR treatment can remove a board range of trace organic contaminants relevant to water reuse, convert organics in wastewater to biogas for subsequent energy production, and liber ...

... Three ceramic MBRs (CMBR) installed with varied electrodes, i.e. Cu, Ti and Fe, were operated in parallel under the minute electric field to evaluate their suppression effect on membrane fouling, by comparison with control CMBR. Fe-CMBR released Fe2+ continuously to induce a higher organic removal efficiency and a smooth fouling rate. There was significant electric-flocculation effect in the Fe-CM ...

... Whilst the fouling of MBR membrane surfaces has been very extensively explored by the academic community, there is an increasingly widespread recognition by practitioners of the issue of clogging of membrane channels with sludge solids, sometimes termed “sludging”. The study undertaken has quantified this phenomenon using a bespoke test cell allowing a flat sheet membrane channel to be viewed dire ...

... Antibiotic wastewater has become a major concern due to the toxicity and recalcitrance of antibiotics. Anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) are considered alternative technology for treating antibiotic wastewater because of their advantages over the conventional anaerobic processes and aerobic MBRs. However, membrane fouling remains the most challenging issue in the AnMBRs’ operation and this l ...